Tobacco in Belgium

New Report Guarantee

If you purchase a report that is updated in the next 60 days, we will send you the new edition and data extract FREE!

Executive Summary

New Report Guarantee

If you purchase a report that is updated in the next 60 days, we will send you the new edition and data extract FREE!

Cigarettes sales remain in decline

Sales of cigarettes continued declining in Belgium in 2015, with both volume and current value sales falling. The general health concerns among the population remain a key factor behind this negative growth, a trend which was seen for the third consecutive year in 2015. High unit prices due to rising taxes also contributed to the decline seen in cigarettes volume sales in 2015, fuelling demand for alternatives to cigarettes.

Demand shifts towards more affordable RYO tobacco and large packs of cigarettes

Due to the high prices now charged for manufactured cigarettes, more smokers prefer to use RYO tobacco, which is less expensive per stick. Therefore, the cheaper and less heavily taxed category of RYO tobacco is attracting an increasing proportion of Belgian smokers. At the same time, in search of convenience or to assuage the guilt involved in buying tobacco regularly, consumers often prefer large packaging sizes when buying cigarettes or smoking tobacco.

Leading players strengthen their positions further

The Belgian tobacco market is controlled by the “big five”: Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Scandinavian Tobacco Group. These five leading multinational tobacco players strengthened their respective market positions in 2015, leaving the crumbs for smaller players such as Agio Cigars and Biggelaar Tabak. The big tobacco manufacturers are also focusing more on expanding sales of their well-known international brands and, in some cases, abandoning their local brands.

Kiosks and tobacco specialists lead distribution as sales through supermarkets grow

Although Belgian consumers continue to head to traditional retail outlets such as newsagents-tobacconists and kiosks to buy their cigarettes, increasing numbers of them now purchase their cigarettes in supermarkets at the same time as their other groceries. Paradoxically, Belgian supermarkets are allocating less space to cigarettes. Some even use neutral vending machines outside the sales area to distribute tobacco products. Due to its bulk and quantity, smoking tobacco and RYO tobacco in particular is generally bought in supermarkets. While cigarillos can be found for sale in supermarkets and kiosks, cigars are almost exclusively sold in tobacco specialist outlets.

The future is not particularly bright for tobacco in Belgium

Sales of cigarettes and tobacco in general in Belgium are set to decline over the forecast period. Indeed, even if the smoking population is expected to continue to shrink, it is the excise hikes planned by the government that worry tobacco manufacturers the most. After the first hike was seen in 2016, further excise hikes are imminent in 2017 and 2018, mostly for smoking tobacco, after increasing sales of smoking tobacco was the only source of satisfaction for tobacco manufacturers in Belgium during the review period. The impending excises hikes will inevitably have a negative impact on consumption of tobacco products in Belgium, although it can be expected to have an even stronger negative impact on the legal cross-border trade in tobacco, involving residents of neighbouring countries crossing the border to buy their tobacco products in Belgium.

Files are delivered directly into your account within a few minutes of purchase.